Technical Session 1:

Title:         Treatment of Phthalic Acid from Aqueous Medium by Electrocoagulation using Aluminum Electrodes: Optimization by Response Surface Methodology
Authors:      Vishal Kumar Sandhwar, Basheshwar Prasad
Abstract:    Purified terephthalic acid is a widely applicable petrochemical product in chemicals and plastic industries. Huge amount of wastewater containing toxic aromatic acids was generated during PTA manufacturing process. Phthalic acid (PA) is a hazardous pollutant of purified terephthalic acid wastewater. The present study emphasizes on the treatment of phthalic acid from its synthetic aqueous solution (PA- 300 mg/L) by electrocoagulation method using aluminum electrodes. A full factorial central composite design under response surface methodology was developed for the optimization of process variables. Process parameters viz. pH: (5-13), current density: (76-230 A/m2), NaCl concentration: (0.5-1.5 g/L) and electrolysis time: (20-100 min) were optimized and modelled by central composite design. Maximum removal of PA- 71.26% and COD- 66.23% were achieved with 109.8 kWh/kg CODremoved energy consumption at optimum conditions. The obtained results indicate the efficiency of the model developed by central composite design.

Keywords: Phthalic acid, Electrocoagulation, Central Composite Design, Optimization, Aluminum
Pages:         026-031

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